Past-due invoice letters for facilities and private-pay riders: reminder, second notice, and final notice

How to use these letters

These letters are for balances a facility or a private-pay rider owes you: the follow-up wording for the process laid out in the guide to collecting unpaid medical transportation bills. Medicaid and broker rides never get one, because the program’s payment is payment in full.

Count the days from the due date printed on the invoice, not from the ride, and use one count for every account. The accounts receivable guide shows how to find the invoices that need a letter. Its ladder is a reminder on the due date, a call to the payables clerk at 15 days late, a call to whoever signed the agreement at 30, and a written final notice at 60. These letters follow it. Send letters 1 and 2 on the day of the call, so the conversation has a paper copy. For a rider invoice due on receipt, letters 2 and 3 land close to the day-30 statement and day-60 final notice in the collection guide’s example calendar.

1. Reminder, 15 days past due. Assume a mix-up: the payment crossed in the mail, or the invoice sits in a queue.
2. Second notice, 30 days past due. State the balance again, add any fee the contract allows, and ask for a date.
3. Final notice, 60 days past due. Name the next step, the date it happens, and how to dispute the balance.

A few habits go with all three:

• Sign with a name and a number. The signer is a person who can take a payment or change an invoice, and the phone is answered during the day.
• Log each letter on the account. Write the date, the method, and who sent it. The final notice is worth more when the first two are on record.
• Send the final notice two ways. Email it and mail it, and keep a copy of each.
• Match the invoice. Use the number, date, and amount exactly as the invoice shows them, and attach a statement listing every open ride.

Letter 1: Reminder

Subject: Invoice [number] was due [due date]

Hello [name],

Our records show that invoice [number] for $[amount], dated [invoice date], was due on [due date] and is still open. It covers [the rides on these dates / the service period].

If you have already paid, thank you. Please tell us the date and how you paid so we can match it. If something on the invoice looks wrong, send us the date and reference number of the ride and we will check it within [two] business days.

You can pay [by the link below / by phone with a card / by check to the address below / by bank transfer, details on request]. A copy of the invoice is attached.

[Name, title, phone, email]

For a facility, add: “Please confirm that the invoice reached the right office and carries the purchase order or contract number your accounts payable team needs: [number]. If it was returned or is waiting for approval, tell us what is missing.”

For a rider or family, add: “If someone other than [rider’s name] is paying for these rides, please send us that person’s name and contact details so we can bill the right address.”

Letter 2: Second notice

Subject: Second notice: invoice [number], $[amount] past due

Hello [name],

Invoice [number] for $[amount] was due on [due date], now [30] days ago, and we have not received payment or heard about a problem. [If the agreement allows a fee: Under section [number] of our [agreement or rate sheet] dated [date], a late fee of [amount or rate] applies after [number] days. The balance is now $[total].]

Please pay by [date, about ten days away], or call [name] at [phone] to talk it through. If you disagree with part of the invoice, pay the part you agree with and send us the ride dates and amounts you question.

An itemized statement of every open ride is attached. You can pay [ways to pay, as in letter 1].

[Name, title, phone, email]

For a rider or family, add: “If paying all at once is hard, we can split the balance into [up to four] payments with no interest. Call [phone] and we will set it up in writing.” Keeping a plan to four payments or fewer, with no interest, is explained in the collection guide.

For a facility, add: “Section [number] of our agreement lets us hold new bookings on an account that is more than [number] days past due. We would rather keep your rides running, so please call me this week.”

Letter 3: Final notice

Subject: Final notice: invoice [number], $[amount], payment due by [date]

Hello [name],

This is our final written notice about invoice [number]. The balance is $[amount] [plus the late fee of $[amount] under section [number]], and it has been unpaid since [due date]. We wrote on [date of letter 1] and [date of letter 2] [and called on [date]].

If we do not receive payment in full, or a signed payment plan, by [date, at least ten days away], we will [the one step you will really take: stop scheduling rides for this account / refer the account to a collection agency / file a claim in small claims court].

If you believe any part of the balance is wrong, tell us in writing by the same date. Name the ride dates and amounts you dispute, and we will answer within [five] business days.

You can pay [ways to pay]. An itemized statement is attached.

[Name, title, phone, email]

Choose the next step before you write the letter, and choose one you can carry out. A rider’s balance might go to an agency or small claims court. A facility’s might stop new bookings until it is paid, if the agreement says so.

What changes for a facility

A facility is a business customer, so the letters reach an accounts payable team, not a person, and they cite the contract.

• Reference the contract. Name the section that sets the payment terms and any late fee, and give the purchase order or contract number on every letter.
• Ask whether the invoice arrived. A late invoice may have gone to the wrong office or be waiting for approval. Letter 1 asks the clerk to confirm receipt and what is missing.
• Federal customers. A federal agency pays late-payment interest whether or not the vendor asks (5 CFR 1315.10), so the letter needs no fee clause. It asks when the invoice was received and whether it came back as improper. Billing facilities for NEMT rides has the Prompt Payment rules.
• State and local customers. Governments follow their own prompt-payment statutes. As one example, Texas generally treats a government payment as overdue on the 31st day after the later of the service or the invoice, and interest runs from that day (Government Code 2251.021 and 2251.025).
• Billing and contract terms. The facility transportation agreement is where the payment terms and the hold-on-bookings clause belong, and how facilities pay NEMT invoices explains why an invoice sits.

What changes for a rider or family

A private-pay balance is a personal debt, and the person who booked the ride may not be the person who owes it.

• Plain words and a small number. Say the ride dates and the amount. Skip contract language.
• Check who owes it. The relative who booked may only have arranged the ride. The agreement or booking record decides who agreed to pay, and the collection guide explains why that matters.
• Keep clinical details off the page. Dates, ride references, and amounts are enough. If your company is a HIPAA covered entity and the letter goes to a relative or other payer, the minimum necessary rule in 45 CFR 164.502(b) asks you to share only what collecting the money needs. Even a letter to the rider can be opened by someone else in the household.
• Leave credit reporting out. A threat you cannot carry out teaches customers to wait, and the collection guide explains why a small ride balance rarely reaches a credit report.
• Write in your own company’s name. The federal collection law excludes a creditor’s own employees collecting in the creditor’s name (15 U.S.C. 1692a(6)), and the FTC notes that many states have their own debt collection laws. The collection guide covers collecting yourself or hiring an agency.

Late fees and interest

Add a late fee only if the signed agreement or rate sheet named it before the ride. An invoice cannot add a term after the fact, which is why the late fee belongs on the rate sheet and in the facility agreement.

When a contract names no rate, some states set one. These are examples to check against your own state:

• California. When a contract made after January 1, 1986 states no rate, the obligation bears interest at 10 percent a year after a breach (Civil Code 3289(b)).
• Texas. A creditor that did not agree on any interest may charge legal interest at 6 percent a year on the credit extended, beginning on the 30th day after the amount was due (Finance Code 302.002).

Neither rule replaces a clause you wrote yourself, and neither applies to a Medicaid rider.

What the final notice sets up

The final notice is the dated record that you asked for the money. Two examples show why that matters. California’s court self-help site says that the first step in a small claims case is to ask the person you are suing for the money. In Texas, a claimant who wants attorney’s fees on a claim for services or a contract must be represented by an attorney, must present the claim, and must wait until 30 days after presenting it for payment (Civil Practice and Remedies Code 38.001 and 38.002). Small claims limits and the rest of the court process are in the collection guide.

Keeping the invoice behind each letter right

A letter is only as good as the invoice behind it. In HealthRide, an invoice is built from the completed trips you ran, priced from that payer’s rates, with its due date set from the payer’s terms and a past-due list that shows exactly who to follow up with. Riders and facilities can pay by card from a pay link or a saved card, and facility staff can open and pay their invoices in the facility portal. Checks and cash you receive go into the same ledger, so you can see what is still open. See invoicing.